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One of the most frequently asked questions about Stonehenge is “Why is it where it is?” and there are several possible explanations for this. They're described below but it's important to understand that combinations of these are also possible – there may not be just one single reason.

Back in the mid 1600s one man came to the realisation that Stonehenge was far older than previously thought. Based on his studies, John Aubrey attributed the monument to the British pre-Roman priesthood called the Druids.

The area within a 2 mile radius around Stonehenge contains more than 300 Bronze Age burial mounds or “barrows”. Often these are clustered into what are termed “cemeteries” - groups of barrows that often occur along the ridgelines within sight of the stone circle. Almost all have been opened by investigators and treasure hunters prior to the 20th century and have had their grave goods removed.

It's weird how information finds you. While finishing up at the monument last week I happened to overhear three visitors wondering where the Avenue was. I stopped to point it out to them and we got into conversation.

As news today (originally first reported last year) emerges of the discovery by the Hidden Landscapes Project of possibly 100 large stones beneath the southern bank of Durrington Walls, some up to 4.5m long, I find myself idly musing about the relationship between Durrington and Stonehenge.

Some fantastic new discoveries and survey data from the SHLP - read the press release (English version is below the German one at the foot of the page) and take a look at the photos and videos provided.

The attached PDF comprises my personal comments which I have submitted to the consultation process.

The document analyses the impact of using two of the potential Larkhill development sites on the Summer Solstice Sunrise alignment as seen from Stonehenge.

It provides the historical background for the Larkhill "Sun Gap", shows the current situation and urges the MoD to remove these two particular sites from consideration and instead restore the "Sun Gap" sightline.

Also included are the contact details if you would like to submit your own comments on the MoD proposals before the 1st April 2014.

Due to plantations of trees growing on Larkhill the summer solstice sunrise as seen from Stonehenge no longer appears to the left of the tip of the Heelstone but to its right.

I think something should be done to restore the correct view, and furthermore that the MoD shouldn't build houses across the solstice alignment as they have proposed in their Army Basing Masterplan.

Update March 11th 2014: If you're interested in this having heard the report on BBC Wiltshire, you might like to read my consultation comments and submit some of your own to the MoD before the 1st April.

You can also join the Flying With The Larks Facebook group, they are compaigning against the same two potential MoD development sites from the point of view of preserving the historic Larkhill Flying Ground.

A series of photographs taken between 2nd August 2012 and 26th December 2013 at a rate of a couple a week, montaged together to create a pair of timelapses showing the construction of the new Stonehenge Visitor Centre.

Today at the monument I met Richard Bailey, the son of T.A. Bailey, the Chief Architect of the Ministry of Works from the 1950s who supervised the restoration of fallen and leaning stones at Stonehenge in the 1950s.

The original Rubik Cube came out when I was at school doing my O' levels in the late 70s. My pure maths teacher (Dr. David Keen) developed a notation and formulae for a number of moves that could be combined to solve any jumbled cube, he shared these with the class and we all learned to solve the cube as a result.

Antiquity's article "Stonehenge Remodelled" by Darvill, Marshall, Parker Pearson and Wainwright [ANTIQUITY 86 (2012): 1021–1040] shows the newly suggested stages of construction. Here I've created fade-animations of the diagrams to show the development of the site over time according to this new model.

I'm now fairly confident that there is a deliberate Winter Solstice Sunrise alignment through Stonehenge, making use of a notch in Stone 58 to target a position on Coneybury Ridge where the sun rose in 2500BC.

Finally I'm in a position to post something that summarises how I have come to this view.

Worthy of further investigation, the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project (which is geophysing the entire World Heritage Site in 5 years) is reported to have discovered two large pits, one near either end of the Cursus.

Apparently these pits are aligned so that as seen from the Heelstone they mark the positions of sunrise and sunset on summer solstice.

I've yet to find the precise positions of the pits reported anywhere, but the sunrise one must be some way from the eastern end because the Lockyer azimuth crosses the Cursus some 400m from the eastern terminal.

That's interesting - it looks like the sunrise alignment on the Samhain (7th Nov) and Imbolc (4th Feb) cross-quarter days goes right over the site of Coneybury Henge and the round barrow cluster 500m WNW of it.